Celebrity Funerals That Made History

There are many funeral traditions that all nations adhere to. However, when it comes to the death of a famous person, in most cases funerals are held according to other scenarios. In this article, we will discuss several such ceremonies.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and airplanes

source: www.loc.gov

On April 14 at 9:50 a.m., a train delivered Roosevelt’s body casket to Washington, D.C. At the train station it was placed on a gun carriage, covered with a star-spangled flag, and seven gray horses drove the mourning chariot through the streets of the capital, which were filled with crowds, to the White House. According to the police, the crowd was unprecedented: 300,000 to 400,000. Warplanes were barircling in the air above the funeral procession. At 10.45 a.m. the procession arrived at the White House, eight officers took the coffin off the carriage and carried it into the building. Here it was placed on a cart and taken to the East Room, where relatives, friends, associates, and envoys of foreign leaders gathered. They were joined by the new President Truman and President Wilson’s widow. Next to the casket stood Roosevelt’s empty wheelchair, a symbol of his serious illness.

At 4 p.m., a moment of silence was called throughout America and the Bishop of Washington began a memorial service. Twenty-three minutes later, Mrs. Roosevelt, who stoically stood by her husband’s casket without shedding a single tear, was the first to leave the hall, followed by the others. The coffin was again placed on the carriage, and it made its way back to the station and was loaded on a special train, which departed for Roosevelt’s Hyde Park estate at 10 p.m.

The next day, in clear sunny weather, the coffin containing the body of the late President was lowered into the grave, the location and design of which Roosevelt had stipulated in detail in his will, drafted back in 1937. The cadets of West Point Academy gave a triple salute, the band played a mourning march, the cadets, who held the national flag over the grave, folded it and gave it to the widow. At 10 a.m. the cannon salute started: the battery placed in the garden near the library was shooting. A guard of honor stood by the coffin. Airplanes flew over the burial place, and a priest served a short funeral service.

John F. Kennedy and 800,000 people

source: www.irishcentral.com

The day of Kennedy’s assassination was declared a national day of mourning. How did the funeral ceremony for the tragically deceased president go?

First, the procession from the Capitol headed toward St. Matthew’s Cathedral. About 800 thousand people lined the streets along the route of the hearse with the late president. After Mass at the cathedral, the procession moved to Arlington National Cemetery. The casket was carried on a gun carriage, with a black stallion led in front of it. In the stirrups were boots pointed with the spurs forward and the toe backward. This was how Abraham Lincoln was buried. After the casket was lowered into the ground, the president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, lit an eternal flame on the grave. The entire ceremony, from the movement of the procession from the Capitol to the funeral, was broadcast on three national channels.

Princess Diana and tons of flowers

source: apnews.com

From September 1 to 8, five million bunches of flowers totaling 10,000 to 15,000 tons were laid at Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace and Kensington Palace in memory of Princess Diana of Wales. Flowers began to be laid at the palaces from the moment the tragic news was received. At St. James’s Palace alone, 43 visitors’ books were filled with condolence notes, and hundreds of such books were filled all over the world, although it was originally thought that four would suffice.

On September 6, 1997, the funeral was held. A record number of television viewers watched the broadcast: a worldwide audience of 2.5 billion people.

On 9 September 1997, three days after the funeral, Diana’s brother Earl Spencer addressed the people. He urged them not to lay flowers at her home in Althorp, but to donate the money they spent on them to charity, something Diana herself would have approved. Some of the flowers were transported by boat to the island where Diana rests, and some were distributed to hospitals.

Michael Jackson

source: www.eonline.com

Jackson’s funeral was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles . Only family and friends (about 200 people) were present. These included Stevie Wonder, Elizabeth Taylor, Brooke Shields, Macaulay Culkin, Diana Ross, Chris Tucker and others. The funeral ceremony was kept safe from prying eyes and sneaky paparazzi by police and a staff of private security guards. According to some reports, the funeral cost the family a pretty penny. However, that money was allocated by permission of Judge Mitchell Beckloff from the star’s funds. The rest of which was frozen because of numerous disputes and conflicts between relatives. Explained the high cost of the funeral by the fact that the cemetery bought a dozen seats at once. But the reasons for this step were not explained. It is logical to suppose, that because of fear of vandalism.

According to the statement of Catherine Jackson, Aretha Franklin, her son’s favorite song was performed near a gilded sarcophagus, decorated with white and yellow flowers. Michael’s children, on the other hand, left their daddy their farewell notes. The King of Pop’s relatives wore gray armbands with the crown on them. Many fans breathed a sigh of relief when the funeral actually took place, even though they couldn’t attend it. After all, they had been postponed several times before. One reason was the repeated autopsies, which insisted inconsolable mother of the legendary singer.